It looks like a leaf.

如同叶子
It is nature in its aesthetic form as imitation of itself,

其美学形象正如同它自身的本质
life as an imitation of life.

源于模仿的生物
Can you make a novel, as he says in the essay,

你们能否尝试写出如作者文中说的那样
that will "sprout wings and grow claws" in secret in his mind?

会在作者的心中悄悄生出羽翼和爪的作品
That's an image taken from the metamorphosis of the butterfly within the chrysalis.

这个形容源于对蝴蝶破茧而出的隐喻
He wants his novel to be like that living butterfly,

作者希望他的小说会像活生生的蝴蝶一样
but the threat is always that it will be more like the aquamarine.

其矛盾则在于他同时担心小说会更像蓝宝石一样
And I want to suggest to you that the aquamarine

我想提一下这里蓝宝石最作者个人来说
has an even darker personal significance to him.

有着比文中更可怕的负面影响力
When his family fled Russia, the only things of value that

当作者一家逃往俄罗斯时
they brought with them were some of his mother's jewels.

身上唯一值钱的东西就是他母亲的珠宝